The dark side of the red ape: male-mediated lethal female competition in Bornean orangutans

The dark side of the red ape: male-mediated lethal female competition in Bornean orangutans

Anna M. Marzec & Julia A. Kunz & Sonja Falkner & Sri Suci Utami Atmoko & Shauhin E. Alavi
& Alysse M. Moldawer & Erin R. Vogel & Caroline Schuppli & Carel P. van Schaik & Maria A. van Noordwijk

Received: 4 September 2015 /Revised: 15 December 2015 /Accepted: 20 December 2015

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Abstract
Female Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) are mainly solitary and philopatric, leading to adult
female relatives sharing adjacent and overlapping home ranges. Females tend to be intolerant of unrelated females,
with whom they also may have overlapping home ranges.
However, fights that lead to injuries are extremely rare and lethal aggression had never been observed. Here, we report the first case of lethal female-female aggression during over 26,000 h of focal data collected on adult females at Tuanan, Central Kalimantan: A young female, who had recently lost her infant, attacked an old resident female. -> download PDF here: SPRINGER<